Books-Divorce and Remarriage in the Church: Biblical Solutions for Pastoral Realities

What does the Bible ACTUALLY say about divorce and remarriage? How do we as pastors adhere faithfully to God’s revelation and minister that truth to the mess and pain of real relationships that are broken? What are the real grounds for divorce, and can Christians remarry after divorce?

The church has been polarized by these questions and, I think, often less than Biblically faithful, erring either to a hyper – “no divorce/remarriage” approach or a pragmatic and mushy appeal to “grace and mercy” that is often not grounded in the text itself. Instone-Brewer, with his background in Rabbinics, IMHO, does by far the best job of explaining what the Scriptures/Moses, Jesus, Paul, etc, actually say about the topic, stripped of church tradition. The results are at once refreshing, shocking and embarrassing.

This book is the non-academic, practical and pastorally focused version of his scholarly work, “Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context” which I have read and have several copies that I loan out.

I like Instone-Brewers style- flitting in and out of pastoral concerns and academic/hermeneutic precision, and I’m intellectually and pastorally satisfied with his hermeneutics and practical applications. Highly recommended.